


Doing Good

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Series: Short and Sweet (Fics of About 1000 Words or Less) [13]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Spoilers for Episode 29 of Campaign 2 of Critical Role, Takes Place In The Aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 15:26:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15560778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: In the aftermath of battle, some words bear repeating.





	Doing Good

Caleb’s hands are slippery with blood, and even though the room is hot, the stone wall feels almost cool against his cheek. The clerics have forgotten about him, it seems. That’s fine. He understands. What should he have expected, after all, after trying to remain in the background for so long? He puts one hand against the wound the glaive carved into him and takes a step away from the wall. His vision blurs as he looks up at Lorenzo, at his dark blue skin, his horns. There’s a name for what he is, Caleb feels it nagging at the back of his mind. He remembers everything, but it is so very hard to think right now. Oni? Was that it?

Caleb raises his arm, and that’s hard to do to. It feels heavy, just like his eyes. Still, he manages, feels the fire sing through his veins, sees his flesh blacken and char with the heat. He wonders sometimes if other people see that too, if it’s just him. He looks Lorenzo in the eyes as he lets the flame go, and keeps looking as the flames find their home, as Lorenzo’s eyes turn into pits of flame, as the body turns to nothing but charcoal and ash.

“You shouldn’t have killed my cat,” Caleb hears himself say. _You shouldn’t have killed Molly_. Why can’t he say it? Why can’t he admit it even now how much that hurt him? He can get Frumpkin back with ten gold’s worth of charcoal and incense and herbs, with ten minutes of spellwork if he’s in no rush. Getting Molly back? That’s going to be harder, if it can even be done at all.

Around him people are moving, talking, examining cages. There is blue, and green, and black and white, and Caleb wanders over to the table and sits down and stares at the unmoving shapes. The unmoving _breathing_ shapes. They’re alive. That’s good. That’s very good. Everyone is alive except for the people that aren’t.

Shakäste is making a speech, words rising and falling around Caleb, washing over him, meaning coming through even though Caleb isn’t paying very much attention. He just keeps staring at the shapes in front of him, watching them breathe.

An arm around his shoulders, a flash of purple and red out of the corner of his eye, a voice in his ear. “ _You did good_ ,” Caleb hears Molly whisper, and he can actually hear the grin in his voice. “ _All of you_.”

Caleb doesn’t turn his head. This has to be a delusion brought on by blood loss and exhaustion. If he looks, there will be no one there. So he doesn’t look, and the phantom weight of the arm around his shoulders doesn’t vanish until Shakäste kneels in front of Caleb, concern and kindness in his eyes, one hand glowing with soft light as he touches him. Caleb feels the wound close, but he’s still so very very tired.

“Still with us?” Shakäste asks. “The last time I saw you, down in the mines, you went away for a little while after you burned someone.”

“I am still here,” Caleb says. “We are all here. Except for Molly. He—“

“I know,” Shakäste says gently. “I was wondering where he was. And then Lorenzo said something about your “kaleidoscopic friend”. Only one person I knew fit that description. I am sorry.”

“He shone so brightly,” Caleb says, eyes burning with tears he refused to shed. Not here, not now. “He was the best of us.”

“I don’t know about that. Bright, yes, your friend was indeed a very colorful character in every sense of the word. But best? He was just a person, doing good, just like all of you today, like all of you have been doing all along.”

Caleb shakes his head. “I was….not always a good person. But I’m trying to be better.”

“I’d say you’re succeeding,” Shakäste says gently, and then holds out his hand. “C’mon. Let’s get everyone out of here.”

Time blurs. Their unconscious friends are loaded onto a wagon and the rest of the Mighty Nein crowd in with them. Nott is curled up on one side of Caleb, and she is quiet, her eyes fixed on Jester. Keg’s eyes are red from crying as she kisses Beau, and Beau kisses her back, their arms wrapped around each other. Caleb closes his eyes and finds himself suddenly leaning against Caduceus.

“Sorry,” Caleb mutters, and shifts his weight to move, but then there is an arm around him, large and gentle.

“No worries,” Caduceus says, his voice gravely and full of good humor. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

Caleb is too tired to deny himself the luxury of touching and being touched, not tonight. “All right. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Caduceus’s voice is as warm and comforting as a quilt. “You did good today. All of you.”

It’s an echo of Molly’s words, or Caleb’s own words to himself, or Shakäste’s words to him. “ _We_ did good today,” Caleb corrects him, and for once includes himself in that statement. Tears start to fall, hopefully unnoticed in the dark. “All of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> My heart is so full. So very full. What an episode, I'm still trying to process it.
> 
> I am also very tired. Love y'all. Remember, it's almost Thursday. 
> 
> I'm angel-ascending over on Tumblr if y'all want to stop by and say hi.


End file.
